Mortality and Updates on our Checkup

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My mother and I had our checkup a week ago at St. Luke's Hospital in Quezon City. We underwent a couple of medical tests including an ECG, blood chemistry and pap smear. I was supposed to go in for an eye checkup, but I forgot to bring my eyeglasses with me so I had to schedule it for next time. I'm not a morning person and I tend to forget things when the sun's up. *LOL*

While we were there, we spoke with a couple of other patients and some of their relatives. We heard a lot of their horror stories, including a heartbreaking story from this middle-aged woman who told us about her husband who has a heart problem and is constantly taking very expensive medicines to keep him alive. They're almost running out of money already and you can see that the woman is a bit tired of what they're going through, but is determined to push on for her husband. I admire her for that. I'm not sure if I can take that much stress and worry, but I do hope I can stand by my future husband through sickness and health.

Anyway, while we were also waiting on the coordinators of our medical plan, just across the hallway, there's this old guy who went to cardiac arrest at one of the doctor's office. He's had heart problems and collapsed as soon as he went inside. It was pretty scary, I tell yah. He apparently got tired from walking to and from the buildings. He was with his son, I guess, and grandson. I'm not sure what happened to him exactly as me and my mom decided to go somewhere else 'cause the whole thing was just plain scary.

Yesterday, we picked up our test results from the laboratory. We were scheduled for an ultrasound, too. While we were waiting, I had my mother interpret or read the results of our blood chemistry test. 2 middle-aged women who were sitting with us at the sofa at the lab overheard us talking and chatted us up. They were asking us about our health card. They didn't have any and was pretty curious about it. One of them was having a series of checkup done on her 'cause of pains at her lower back, which she fears might be because there's something wrong with her gall bladder. She told us how much she already spent. And when she found out we underwent ECG, she also decided to have one. She wished she had a Medicare plan or some health insurance like us to cover all of the expenses, and I just wish she'd be able to apply for one. I didn't bother asking her if she was employed 'cause usually, the company takes care of that.

Anyway, while we were waiting for our ultrasound, she told us about this someone she knows who was only 26 years old and died because of infections on her gall bladder. I was like, seriously?! 26 years old?! She said the woman and her family didn't know it was that severe. She was having back pains, too, and when she had herself checked, it was already too late.

That got me really scared and I very much want to take this whole medical checkup seriously. My mom's ECG wasn't clear like mine. We still need a doctor's interpretation of the results. She said she's got a slow-beating heart. She's already taking medicines for maintenance of her heart issues, but she's doing pretty okay. I am praying the doctor won't see anything serious.

We're thankful our blood chemistry results were at normal to borderline only. But, still, it's something we need to take seriously. We had the test done after we found out that my father's sister has diabetes. My mother has this bad habit of buying sweets so I was nervous we'd have that problem, too. So, after seeing the results, I told her to STOP buying anything sweet and to avoid eating sweets, too. She's really hard-headed at times, but I am determined to keep our family healthy so we can all live longer. So, I won't care if she gets irritated by me constantly reminding her not to eat too much sweets.

This whole checkup experience got me really thinking about life and our mortality. I've always believed in the saying that we should live like it's our last day, but that's just pretty scary. Thinking about the day you'd finally leave this earth is just depressing. But, I know that it should only push me to live my life to the fullest NOW and keep myself healthy. So, with that, I am throwing out my pack of cigarettes and will stick with my diet, exercise and enjoy life while keeping myself and my family healthy.

My advice to you, if you haven't had yourself checked in the past year, DO IT now. If you're feeling any pains that's been over a week now, have yourself checked PLEASE. I'm scared of hearing bad news about my health, but I don't want to know there's something wrong with me when it's way too late. So, please, take care of yourself, alright?